“Take it or Leave it” addition to join the Residential Spring Cleanup Campaign to help promote repurposing

Over the last 18 years, the Town of Whitecourt has been providing residents with a clean up opportunity in the spring called the Residential Spring Cleanup Campaign. Typically run in the month of May, it provides residents with the chance to dispose of household and yard refuse that wouldn’t be accepted in weekly curbside waste collection.

Back in September, council heard from administration on the cost of the 2018 program after council had asked for the numbers. At the time,Councillor Schlosser said he was concerned that the project had ballooned to a larger level and that the cost to taxpayers might be higher than anyone expected. His fears were realized when administration announced that the program cost $25,230.03 more in 2018 than it did in 2017. Considering the cost in 2017 was $32,677.54, the nearly 50 per cent increase needed to be addressed.

During the December 10 Policies and Priorities Meeting, the committee was provided options going forward to help offset the increased costs and manpower needed to run the program. Five different options were put forward and the committee was able to pick however many options they felt necessary.Options not chosen included providing one “free pass” for residents to drop off items at the landfill at no cost, renting large bins at the Transfer Station for a two-week period and allowing residents to dispose of items for free and, finally,having free landfill days over the course of two weeks where residents could dispose of items without paying a fee.

The three not selected were the costliest of the options and required residents to have vehicle access in order to take part in the program. Considering the conversation started because the current program had cost so much in May, it didn’t make sense to the committee to choose options that would potentially cost more than what the program itself had cost.

In the end, they chose to select two options. The first option will keep the program the same but add in an enhanced educational component with stricter enforcement. During the campaign, items that are not accepted will be tagged to let residents know and bylaw enforcement will be involved if people do not remove the items within three calendar days of the campaign end date.

The second option added in was exciting for the committee as they all thought it was a fantastic addition to the program. “The week prior, and perhaps even a little bit longer, there will be a “Take it or Leave it” addition where residents can put items on their lawns and people can drive around and see what items they would be able to utilize and grab those items for free,” explained Mayor Chichak.

One of the biggest drawbacks in the program has been dealing with items that aren’t allowed and having those items left on the curbside beyond the end of the project. The new parameters take care of those issues and will, hopefully, cut down the costs of the program, saving valuable tax dollars. “I’m really excited to see, and council is as well, how this addition will be received by the public and how much of that stuff will be utilized,” Chichak added.

She said the community is already very engaged when it comes to repurposing stuff. “You can see that on all the different social media sites of stuff that’s available for a nominal price or for free and the amount of stuff that is taken to Repeat Boutique and Twice is Nice, too. This will be another welcome addition for local repurposing. Someone else could potentially use it and that’s the most important part is that it doesn’t end up in our landfill.”